Buckle or clamp



B. H. WHITE. ,BUCKLE on CLAMP. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28, 1920.

1,37s,391,- 1 PatentedMay 17,1921.

IBIRDORA H. WHITE, on oIIIcAeo, ILLINOIs.

BUCKLE OR CLAMP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 17, 19 21.

Application filed February 28, 1920. Serial No. 361,964.

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, BIRDORA H. WHITE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Buckles or Clamps, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact descri tion.

invention relates to buckles or clampsfor supporting garments, andparticularly garments supported through the medium of straps and loops.

The object of my invention is to provide a buckle that can be adjustablyattached to a strap, and from which a garment may be supported quicklyand easily, which is pro vided with hooks that can be made to easily andquickly engage loops or eyes in the supported garment, and be as easilyand quickly detached therefrom,and which will not tear the same. This Iaccomplish by the means hereinafter fully described and as particularlypointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure l-is a front view of my'improved buckle drawn to a greatlyenlarged scale.

Fig. 2 is a top view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the same.

Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken on dotted lines 4, 4, Fig. 2.

My improved buckle comprises two memone of which consists of an invertedU-shaped frame, the horizontal bar 5 of which has its ends extendvertically downward to form parallel guides 6, 6, the lower ends ofwhich are bent horizontally away from each other for a correspondingdistance to form the lower bends 7, 7,0f hooks. The remainder of theconstruction of these hooks is made by bending the outer ends of thebends 7, 7, upward, to form upright portions 8, that are substantiallyparallel to the lower portions of the guides 6, 6. The upper ends ofthese portions 8, terminate below the center of length of the guides 6,and are bent forward to form guards 9, 9, that extendin front of thevertical transverse plane of the bar 5 and guides 6, 6, and are thenbent to ward each other and looped to form terminal eyes 10, 10. Thebends 7, 7, are preferably, curved rearwardly so as to conform to thecurvature of the form of the body of the wearer against which they aredesigned to bear, and the terminals 10, 10, of these hooks are providedwith eyes so as to prevent tearing the fabric and to facilitate thebers,

passage of the same past said terminals,

which said fabric would otherwise do if the terminals ended by abruptlycutting OK the same.

The other member of my improved buckle comprises a clamp which consistsof a sub-' stantially straight horizontally disposed wire cross-bar 11which extends from in front of one upright 6 to the other upright 6 ofthe U-shaped supporting-frame and has its ends coiled upward,preferably,.for two or three convolutions to, form tubes 12, 12, thatsur-. round and slide up and down upon the guides 6, 6. The upper endsof the coils extend forward on the inner sides of the guides 6, 6, untilthey are in the same transverse vertical plane as the center of lengthof the bar 11 I and then are bent in alinement'toward each other to formarms and connected toeach other either directly or by entering the bore"of a metal sleeve 13 to form an upper crossbar 14. This metal sleeveconfines the ends of said arms of the cross-bar 14 and protects thecloth or fabric from the rough and sharp edges of the extremities ofsaid arms.

111 Operation the strap on the lower ends l of which this buckle issuspended extends down under the horizontal cross-bar 5 0f thesupporting-frame in front. of the clamp, and is bent around the crossbar11 of said clamp and up in front of the sleeve, 13, thereof. When anyweight 1s put upon the hooks of the supportingframe, it Wlll be drawndownward and the fabric or strap will be clamped between the sleeve 13of the clamp and the horizontal bar 5 of the supportingframe. This strapis shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5 of the dravv-.

ings, and it will be apparent that at any time it is desired to adjustthe buckle on said strap all that will be necessaryto do will be tolift'the U-sha'ped'frame and then pull upward on the end of the strap soas to adjust the buckle thereon.

Thehooks are designed to-be engaged by loops 15, as shown inthedrawings, substantially as shown in my pendin application for bucklesfiled in the United tates Patent Office December 26, 1919, Serial No.347,256.

But one loop substantially as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 of thedrawingsor its equivalent can be used in connection with said hooks. Thedesign of the hooks will greatly facilitate the entrance of theterminals thereof into the loops, or other equivalents in the garmentsupported thereby and thesinuous course of the portions of said hooksextending from the bends 7, thereof retain the loops on the hooksagainst the accidental removal and yet make the voluntary removal ofsaid loops by the wearer a matter of easy accomplishment.

What I claim as new is: v c

1. A buckle comprising an inverted U- shaped supporting-frame made ofone continuous piece of wire and having the lower ends of the parallelportions bent laterally away from each other and formed into hooks, theends of which are bent upward, and a clamping member consisting of alower and an upper horizontal cross-bar connected by tubular guides thatare slidably mounted on the vertical portions of said supporting-frame,said clamping member also being made of a continuous piece of wire andthe guides of several coils.

2. A buckle comprising an inverted U- shaped supporting-frame made ofone continuous piece of metal and having the lower ends of the parallelportions bent laterally away from each other and formed into hooks, theends of which are bent upward,

the extremities of which terminate in a plane' in front of the U-shapedportion, and a vclamping member consisting of a single piece of metaland comprising two spaced apart horizontal cross-bars the ends of whichare connected by tubular guides that are slidably mounted upon theparallel portions ofsaid supporting-frame.

3. A buckle comprising an inverted U- shaped supporting-frame made ofone continuous stripof metal and having the lower ends of the parallelportions bent laterally away from each other and formed into hooks, theends of which are bent upward, the extremities of which are benthorizontally forward -to provide guides and terminatein a plane in frontof the U-shaped portion, and a clamping member consisting of a singlepiece of metal and comprising two spaced apart horizontal cross-bars theends of which are connected by tubular guides that are slidably mountedupon the parallel portions of said supporting-frame.

4. A' buckle comprising an inverted U shaped supporting-frame made ofone conspaced apart horizontal cross-bars the ends of which areconnected by tubular guides that are slidably mounted upon the parallelportions of said supporting-frame.

5. A buckle comprising an inverted U- shaped supportingirame made of onecontinuous strip of wire and having the lower ends of the parallelportions bent laterally 'away from each other and formed into hooks, theends of which are bent upward, the extremities of which are benthorizontally forward to provide guides and terminate in a plane in frontof the U-shaped portion and point toward each other and are providedwith eyes, and a clamping member consisting of a single piece of metaland comprising two spaced apart horizontal guides that are slidablymounted upon, the parallel portions of said supportingframe.

6. A buckle comprising an inverted U- shaped supporting-frame made of asingle piece of wire and having the lower ends of its parallel portionsbent laterally away from each other to form hooks, the ends of which arebent upward, which'latter have the upper ends of their'verticallydisposed portions bent forward to provide guards, and the forwardends'of the latter terminate in lateral extremities that point towardeach other, a clamping member consisting of a single piece of wirecomprising a lower cross-bar the ends of which are provided with severalcoils that form guides that are slidably mounted on' the parallelbranches of the U-shaped portion of the supportingframe and have theirupper ends bent in alinement toward each other, and a sleeve into theends of which said last mentioned ends enter.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set

